Ah, a lunchtime game, two player. Neither of us had ever played it before, either, though I had run through a "game" solo to get the rules clear in my mind. It was an enjoyable game of exercising skills, completing quests, entering tournaments and dispensing justice.

As a first-time game, we definitely didn't have all the nuances down, though we did learn as we went along. Twice I could have been seriously slowed down if my opponent had taken the "4" horse while I was out in the hinterlands, but she missed the opportunity. However, a couple times later in the game she did make good use of her #1 tent to deny me the opportunity to go to Arthur's RoundTable to get a new quest. I tried to make do when I could by entering tournaments or dispensing justice, to get my 2 points per round. I don't think she took advantage of those two options as much as she could have. She tended to collect quests, but was having a hard time getting the wisdom (book) skill to complete some of them. When I finally did get to complete another quest (Yeah, I had done two or three of them before being shut out from Arthur), I reached 24 points. On the next turn I was unopposed in the tournament, to get to the 25 point threshhold (26, actually), just as she completed a quest to get to 22.

When other coworkers (usually they join us for gaming) did finally come by, they sat and watched some, and commented how complicated the game was. Of course, they hadn't been around for the rules explanations -- I don't think this is all that complicated. I know elsewhere it's been said that this is just a tad fiddly, and might have been better served with a true board, rather than a faux board via a tableau of cards. I think I'd agree with that, but it doesn't harm my impression of this game. It's quite enjoyable, and right up my alley.